The goal of the proposed research is to determine the association between alcohol consumption and problem drinking in veterans. The study focuses on alcohol consumption and problem drinking in three groups of men: a) a comparison of veterans of any era with non- veterans from any era b) a comparison of Vietnam era veterans and an age-matched control group and c) a randomized natural experiment using the selective service system draft lottery to compare draft eligible and draft ineligible men born in 1950, 1951 and 1952. The data for the proposed study are derived from computer tape transcripts of the special supplements to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) collected in 1977, 1983 and 1985. It is estimated that these three NCHS Supplements contain more than 10,000 veterans from all eras and more than 3,500 Vietnam era veterans. Fourteen specific measures of alcohol consumption and problem drinking will be examined in each of the three groups of men. Included in these fourteen measures are the following standard indicators of alcohol consumption a) Average Daily Ethanol Consumption (ADEC) b) days of heavy consumption in past 12 months (5 or more drinks per day) c) current drinking level (abstainer, light, moderate, heavy). Utilizing data from the three groups of men (all veterans versus all non-veterans, all Vietnam era veterans versus the age-matched control, draft eligible versus draft ineligible) will provide an increasingly more sensitive test of the hypothesis that prior military service affects alcohol consumption and problem drinking. The ability to study the role of prior military service on alcohol consumption and problem drinking has important long-term implications. The repetition of similar alcohol consumption questions in future NHIS Supplements in 1988 and 1990 will permit the examination of secular trends. More directly, the data from the proposed study will provide evidence for or against the myth of the alcohol-abusing veteran and thereby enhance our ability to assign medical and social resources appropriately.